Pre-Weekend Notes (PDF) | Live Stats | APSU Info

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- After having a recent nine-game win streak broken last week, Eastern Illinois travels to Clarksville, Tenn., to face Austin Peay in a three-game weekend softball series. The Panthers are currently 32-8 overall and remain in first place in the Ohio Valley Conference at 19-2.

First pitch of both the Friday (April 22) doubleheader and Saturday (April 23) single game are set for 1 pm at APSU's Lady Govs Field.  The three weekend contests at APSU will be the final regular-season league road series of 2011.

SERIES HISTORY VERSUS APSU ...
This weekend's three-game series at Peay (10-33/5-16) will mark the 46th, 47th and 48th meetings in the all-time series between the two OVC rivals. The Panthers currently own a sizeable 34-11 lead in the all-time series. Eastern enjoys a 14-9 advantage when playing in Clarksville, Tenn.

Last year, the two squads split a doublheader in Charleston, with the second game taking nearly two days to be completed as it was interrupted by rain and finished the next day before the third game of the series was eventually washed out.

Over the course of the series, EIU has enjoyed a 16-game win streak from 1997 to 2001, and more recently won four consecutive between 2005 and 2006.

Sixth year EIU head coach Kim Schuette is a combined 8-5 all-time against the APSU squad.

THE WEEKEND WEATHER OUTLOOK ...
According to Weather.com, the weather scenario this weekend in Clarksville, Tenn. may be a mixed bag.

Scattered storms and wind are in the works for Friday, with highs in the low 80s, a low of 64-degrees and a 60% chance for inclement weather. For Saturday, the weather gods are calling for mostly cloudy skies with a high of 78-degree and only a 10% chance of rain.

EIU PANTHER STAFF FALLS TO SECOND-BEST IN THE NATION ...
This past week, the Panther pitching unit fell just slightly from the top ranks for team ERA, as EIU now sits right behind Big 12 power Texas, who took over the No. 1 spot from the Panthers.

As announced by the NCAA on April 19, 2011, the Panther pitchers have a combined 1.14 ERA, while Texas is just slightly better at 1.10.

Individually, senior Amber May and freshman Stephanie Maday are ranked at No. 11 and No. 20, respectively, with an ERA of 1.01 and 1.29

Naturally both Maday and May continue to lead the entire OVC field of pitchers for both the regular-season and OVC-only games as well.

Following EIU's loss at SEMO, however, the Panthers now sport a 1.29 team ERA, with May at 1.17 and MAday now at 1.49.

SCOUTING THE APSU LADY GOVS ...
Sporting a 10-33 overall record and 5-16 OVC mark, APSU is currently in 10th place out of the 11 league teams.

The squad is led by freshman Lauren de Castro's .277 batting mark, while junior Catie Cozart is a close second at .276.

The twosome have combined for 19 extra-base hits, with de Castro with seven doubles, Cozart with two triples and each sporting three homers apiece. Plus they each have five stolen bases on the year to lead all Govs.

Senior Tiffany Smith leads squad with 17 RBI off a .216 bat. She has four doubles, a triple and three bombs.

In the circle, sophomore Morgan Brewer leads the APSU pitching staff with a 6-12 mark, eight complete games and one shutout. She has 64 strikeouts and allowed 43 walks off 126 2/3 innings of work. The opposition is hitting .288 against, however and she has allowed 103 runs, with 68 being earned, to sport a 3.76 ERA.

Team-wise, the Lady Govs trail their opposition in every statistical category, most notably in hitting (.220 to .308), runs (124 to 264), hits (228 to 356), RBI (110 to 227), strikeouts (278 to 135), stolen bases (24 to 66), and team ERA (5.00 to 2.39).

Ironically, this season APSU has actually won two of three over UT Martin, who came in as the defending OVC champions.

APSU is led on the field by Casey Dickson who is in her third season as skipper of the Lady Gov program.

EIU KEEPS ADDING TO HOMERUN MARK ...
For the second consecutive year, the Panthers have notched a new school-record mark for homeruns. As of now, EIU has hit 39 home runs, eclipsing last year's previous high of 30.

And EIU just continues to add to the season homer tally as freshman Reynae Hutchinson joined senior junior Hailee Hanna and sophomore Melise Brown with six bombs on the season, thanks to a solo shot at SEMO.

Under coach Schuette the Panthers have placed, set or tied the school mark for homers in five of her six seasons as head coach.

Individually, Schuette has coached eight of the all-time top home run leaders, which includes four current members of the squad who only continue to add to their career numbers in 2011 -- Kiley Holtz at No. 4 (18), Hailee Hanna at No. 5 (14), Melinda Jackson tied at No. 7 (10), and newcomer to the career Top 10, Melise Brown who added her name to the prestigious list at No. 10 (8).

MAY STILL PERFECT IN OVC PLAY ...
In conference action this season, Amber May is a perfect 13-0 against the OVC competition. That also includes four shutouts and a save.

She has already tallied 500th career strikeout this season, as she now owns 529 all-time Ks, which is the second best mark by a Panther pitcher in school history. She most likely will finish her Panther career by coming just short of former standout Zam Mogill (1985-88) who ended her four-year EIU career with 701 career strikeouts.

What's even more amazing, however, is that May has notched her career numbers in just three years as a Panther.

PANTHERS CONTINUE TO HOLD ONTO TOP SPOT IN OVC ...
More than halfway through the league slate, the Panthers continue to hold a tight grip as the team to beat in the OVC race.  The 19-2 league mark is currently one whole game better than second-place JSU.

The 32-8 overall record, meanwhile, is the best record by an EIU team in Division I school history.

Eastern has already earned the series over seven of the 10 OVC opponents this season, with the addition of SIUE which officially joined the Division I ranks this spring.

The Panthers have won all three regular-season matchups over Eastern Kentucky, Murray State, SIU Edwardsville, and Tennessee State, plus EIU took two of three versus Southeast Missouri and Tennessee Tech.

Following this weekend's final road OVC series at APSU, Eastern will have a home weekend series against the No. 2 Gamecock squad from JSU and a regular-season home series against Morehead State.

Looking ahead to the end-of-season conference championship, which will be hosted by the regular-season champion on May 12-14, only the top six squads are eligible to compete, so if the tourney were to take place today, the Panthers would host #2-JSU, #3-SIUE, #4-UTM, #5-SEMO and #6-MOR to determine who would represent the OVC in the NCAA Regionals.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS, OVC SHOWDOWN WITH JSU NEXT WEEKEND ...
Following the OVC road series at APSU this Easter weekend, the Panthers will next entertain perennial league power Jacksonville State in a three-game slate on Sat.-Sun., April 30-May 1.

The winner of this key OVC league series will be in the driver's seat to being crowned the regular-season OVC champion and potential host of the six-team tournament.

Prior to that huge weekend series, however, EIU will first step out of OVC action when they host I-70 rival Indiana State in a single game on Wednesday (April 27), with first pitch set for 4 pm.

Then Eastern will travel to Indianapolis for a twinbill at IUPUI the next afternoon (Thursday, April 28).

EIU PLAYERS CONTINUE TO ADD TO CAREER NUMBERS ...
Seniors Kiley Holtz and Amber May continue to add to their career stat tally.

Holtz is ranked in the EIU Top 10 for career doubles (28), total bases (244) and needs just eight more hits to add her name for all-time hits. Meanwhile, she needs to tally just five more RBI to sport the EIU career record for that stat category.

May, meanwhile, has continued to add her name to both the single-season and career pitching record books. She currently owns the second-best single-season winning percentage (17-3) and her 17 wins this year is the third such consecutive mark by the right-hander. She needs just 45 more strikeouts to tie her 2009 single-season tally, which is ranked No. 2 in the record books.

For career numbers, May is in the EIU Top 5 for victories (51), winning percentage (51-38/.573), saves (5), strikeouts (529), shutsouts (17), innings pitched (625), complete games (68), and appearances (112). She needs just three more saves to take over the top spot in the career list.

PANTHERS LISTED IN OVC 'TOP 10' ...
As announced this past Monday (April 18), EIU continues to be well represented in the OVC weekly statistical rankings.

In team stats, the Panthers continue to own the top numbers for both pitching and fielding, as the squad has for more of the season. That includes top stat numbers for the entire season and in OVC-only contests. The list is as follows (stats thru 4/17):
   Pitching (ERA) ... 1st (1.14) ... #2 in the nation ... currently 1.29
      OVC only (ERA) ... 1st (1.20) ... currently 1.49
   Fielding (avg.) ... 1st (.975) ... currently .975 (29 errors)
      OVC only (avg.) ... 1st (.979) ... currently .978 (13 errors)

In individual statistics for the entire season and in OVC-only play, senior Amber May sports seven first place rankings in a variety of pitching categories (stats thru 4/17):
   Pitching (ERA) ... Amber May (1.01) ... #11 in the nation ... currently 1.08
      Pitching (ERA) - OVC only ... May (0.62) ... currently 0.89
   Shutouts (#) ... May (6) ... currently 1.08
      Shutouts (#) - OVC only ... May (4) ... currently 4
   Opponent Batting (Avg.) ... May (.186) ... currently 1.08
      Opponent Batting (Avg.) - OVC only ... May (.167) ... currently .171
   Wins (#) - OVC only ... May (13) ... currently 13

... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID